UK schools urged to fly the Union Flag and sing the national anthem in every assembly
116 replies, posted
Patriotism: I'm from this lump of mud, therefore I'm better than someone from that lump of mud!
Why be proud to be from some arbitray political border? Why not be proud to be part of the species?
ANyway, if schools really wanted to engender partiotism a better use of those ten minutes would be a brief look at some piece of British history, like Newton or Turing or Maxwell or Arthur, rathern than piss away that time mumbling some sonorous nonsense.
I wonder if they'll reinstall the bit about delivering the queen from scotland, that's more relevant than ever.
[QUOTE=bravehat;44577455]Or we could not waste peoples time doing something that no one cares about.
Maybe we could use our schools to actually fucking teach people instead of making them honour the union jack and do a god damned anthem.[/QUOTE]
Totally agree, when I was a kid in Primary School we had to do the national anthem in hour long assemblies every week and the whole time I would think "I can't believe taxpayer's money is being spent on this instead of actually spending the time to teach us important stuff".
And since I'm from New Zealand I always felt uncomfortable singing the anthem in the assemblies, but you'd actually get in trouble for not singing it.
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;44577400]In the US this is pretty much routine in elementary schools. We always did the pledge of allegiance before class starts.[/QUOTE]
Not in my experience. We only did the pledge once a week, if that, IIRC (I think it was Wednesday). By the time I got to middle school we did it maybe once a month, and by that time 90% of the students just stood there doing nothing during it. Don't think we EVER did the pledge in high school.
I don't think there's a single school in the US that doesn't fly the US flag, but I think that's mostly because every government building has a flag.
Also, the pledge is a hell of a lot different (and shorter!) than the full anthem. And optional by law...
But anyway, every student sees through it for the bullshit that it is, so I don't see the point.
[QUOTE=Savant231A;44577485]What's with this hate on nationalism? Nationalism is good. Loving your country and your fellow countrymen is good. Just because you love your country doesn't automatically mean you hate your neighbours. Nonetheless, Goethe said a while ago that you cannot fully appreciate other countries if you do not fully appreciate yours first.[/QUOTE]
Probably because nationalism is a colossal waste of time.
If kids are going to feel proud of their country, they'll come to that opinion of their own accord. Taxpayers' money in education should be spent on educating.
[QUOTE=Sgt Doom;44577667]If kids are going to feel proud of their country, they'll come to that opinion of their own accord. Taxpayers' money in education should be spent on educating.[/QUOTE]
Don't you see? If we educate them, they'll see that the country's shitty! We need to starve them of education at force feed them patriotism!
Third option: Use the money to build a country worth of its citizen's pride.
[QUOTE=HammerBrute;44577440]this is ridiculous, nationalism needs to be stamped out not encouraged in young people.[/QUOTE]
I don't see any harm in nationalism as long as it isn't aggressive and extreme
[QUOTE=prinner;44577513]you can love your countrymen without loving lines on a map that are characterized by centuries of bloodshed[/QUOTE]
it's never about the lines. Lines will shift, disappear or reappear. What I consider nationalism to be, is the confidence that every man or woman speaking my language, accepting my culture and generally being a good person to me and my other fellow countrymen will do everything in her/his power to make the little land we've been given a bit better for everyone.
I truly believe that the moment we can trust those who live within our imaginary lines, we can accept those who live outside those imaginary lines.
Maybe I'm old-fashioned, maybe I'm a bloody europoor or balkan scum, but I love my country, and the only thing that comes in front of it is family. For those two things I will do anything and it drives me daily to do things I couldn't imagine. If it weren't for my land, I would be broken and I would wander and roam without goals. But when I see something wrong in my land, I try to correct it, even a little bit.
And what's up with the centuries of bloodshed? Have I mentioned that? But since you've mentioned I have to comment it.
Shit happens. Wars happen. Interests collide and people take advantage of that by sending young men to die. But wars must happen. And it isn't an opinion of mine, it is a fact. I would like for wars to completely disappear but I do not see that happening in a long time. We're just not that advanced yet. In the meantime, I will honour my ancestors not for killing, not for dying but for the fact that they stood their ground.
And I'll tell you what. I love you bro. I love and respect you because every single human is related. We're all brothers and sisters. Until we finally realise to cherish this planet as whole, I will cherish my little piece of land.
tl;dr nationalism breeds homogayfag philanthropists that love earth.
How about kids learn of science and life than doing fucking rituals
[QUOTE=Savant231A;44577746]What I consider nationalism to be, is the confidence that every man or woman speaking my language, accepting my culture and generally being a good person to me and my other fellow countrymen will do everything in her/his power to make the little land we've been given a bit better for everyone.[/QUOTE]
Too bad that's not true. It might be in Croatia, but it really no longer is here. Nationalism, to me, is just shoving people into "us vs them" boxes. Maybe I'm just a part of the Belgian collective traumatism of having our country ruined by nationalism over and over again, but for us, nationalism is just being proud of something somebody else did in the past and one-upping other nations.
[QUOTE=Terminutter;44577407]Would be hard pressed to find a single flag within a square kilometre of my previous school. :v:[/QUOTE]
Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland...
[img]http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/825000/images/_827929_gallery1300.jpg[/img]
Flying the nation's flag is perfectly normal. Singing the national anthem?..
[QUOTE=ScoobyV2;44577448]In my opinion saying the pledge of allegiance to a country's anthem is harmless. And I'm for it.
This has nothing to do with radical nationalists, because I'm not for those.[/QUOTE]A country's people shouldn't pledge allegiance to their nation. A nation should pledge allegiance to its people.
[QUOTE=CabooseRvB;44577400]In the US this is pretty much routine in elementary schools. We always did the pledge of allegiance before class starts.[/QUOTE]
Hell, I'm in high school and every single day we start with the pledge of allegiance followed by a ten second moment of silence.
Make the national anthem Jerusalem or Land of Hope and Glory and not some fucking dirge about how great the monarch is then we can talk.
Kids can learn British patriotism by listening to British comedians harp on about how terrible we are and how great that is. Best way to be British.
thank you for calling it the Union Flag OP, it really grinds my gears when it's called the jack and isn't on a jackmast
eh, our national anthem is about our queen, not our country so i'd hardly feel comfortable every morning pledging allegiance to our head of state
also nationalism etc
[QUOTE=kaze4159;44577403]but I still don't know or care about the anthem (Plus it's a pretty shit song)[/QUOTE]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R7OVnTyUvM[/media]
I'm all for flying the flag but not so much the national anthem. That's getting a bit creepy singing it everyday at school.
What the point of flagpoles in school unless you forgot what country you're in show kids all flags of the world in geography instead
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;44577499]Sounds creepy from a German perspective.[/QUOTE]
it sounds creepy and i'm american
I'm not proud to be British, but I'm bloody grateful
If I were to pledge alliegance to any flag though it would be England alone or Wessex :v:
[QUOTE=Jamsponge;44577490]The English flag is a different story, though. If you fly one outside your home, it just makes you look like you're part of the EDL or the National Front or something. That's just the connotations it has.[/QUOTE]
There's a Sikh family near me who flies a massive English flag, I absolutely despise that the far right appears to have claimed it for themselves
[QUOTE=deltasquid;44577826]Too bad that's not true. It might be in Croatia, but it really no longer is here. Nationalism, to me, is shoving people into "us vs them" boxes. Maybe I'm just a part of the Belgian collective traumatism of having our country ruined by nationalism over and over again, but for us, nationalism is just being proud of something somebody else did in the past and one-upping other nations.[/QUOTE]
I can see where you're going with your concepts, and I do think there is a plethora of such people here as well, but they ultimately say nothing but empty words and terms not because they're bad people, but because they don't know any better.
We are a special place. A country that had just recently exited a bloody civil war and experienced a period of exponential growth until it was shattered by a crisis beyond our means and was handled by people whom we had trust in, but that revealed themselves to more often than not be working towards a selfish agenda, exploiting what we have to offer while sapping what little we have left day after day. We have to assure our love for where we live, we have to band together and help each other to save the place which most of us have been calling home for decades now. It doesn't have to be through a revolution or war, we don't have to keep ourselves enclosed and collectivist, but we need to make sure that everyone can step on a sure footing towards a better tomorrow.
Until just decades ago our country was under a constant threat from external forces, those that didn't care about who was within our borders, but what was within our borders. As times went on those threats rotated, empires and wars passed, and at last the constant devotion and love of all that lived in Croatia finally gave us the gift of independence. That is, essentially, why we have to stay nationalistic. If we loosen up and not care who will we let control our still uncertain destiny? Will it be the oligarchs of the East? The corporate empires of the West? The bureaucrats of Brussels? The bandits which hog the parliamentary seats, tricking the population into letting them win elections so they corrupt the system and line their pockets with our money? The Gasterbajters from all over the globe, people who selfishly abandoned ship hundreds of years ago?
We have to stay vigilant. We have to show devotion to our country. We have to care. Because if we don't, there won't be a Croatia. Not because an invader or an usurper will take the land away from us, but because we will let the bad ones among ourselves tear it apart for fame and profit.
I always think of kids singing to the fuhrer/german national anthem when people mention this, like in some WW2 films :v:
No Thanks.
This feels all too familiar.
I see nothing wrong with this.
I'm no jingoist, and despise those who are irrationally patriotic, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.
[QUOTE=matt.ant;44577390][B]Schools in Bolton[/B] are being urged to fly the Union Jack and sing the national anthem at every assembly as part of a campaign to foster patriotism among the young.
It was approved this week despite a Labour councillor questioning whether schools with tight budgets could afford flags and poles.
[URL]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2607477/Towns-schools-urged-fly-Union-Jack-boost-patriotism-pupils-campaign-launched-grandson-Boltons-Indian-immigrant.html[/URL][/QUOTE]
I think you missed a tiny thing that would've settled down some people...probably not the ones in Bolton.
[QUOTE=Xubs;44578131]our government teacher actually has a bunch of the world's flags on the back wall of his classroom, he's great
he actually got in a lot of fights with the students, mainly because the students, surprisingly enough, were fairly politically active but all my peers are way into fox news, and our government teacher's a hugely outspoken socialist, and it was fun because our class would get derailed for the whole 45 minute class period arguing about the Palestinians or the treatment of transgender people
it felt like sensationalist headlines brought to life, it was the most fun I ever had in a class[/QUOTE]
But be honest; the best part about those kinds of teachers are that you get to do nothing for a class period.
That'd be kind of weird for the US to sing the national anthem all the time, the pledge is just fine though.
nearest union jack flag to me is about a 20 minute walk to the army base...
noone cares.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.